Alabama Republican coach Tommy Tuberville, who refuses to use his Senatorial title, is plotting with GOP colleagues to use a procedural vote to force a floor vote to approve the pending new Commandant of the Marine Corps, CNN reports. The move, a parliamentary motion traditionally reserved for the Senate Majority Leader to use to bring emergency legislation to the floor, is rarely used by a rank-and-file member.
The motion requires 16 other Senators to join Tuberville, and a number of Republicans–including Rubio, Graham, and Cornyn–have said they have already joined the motion or they intend to. The political move to break protocol in the Senate is a shift from the GOP taking fire for Tuberville’s block of hundreds of flag and executive officers’ promotions to blaming Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer for not bypassing the formal nomination process and bringing the nominations to the floor.
The problem for the GOP is, turtle in headlights Mitch McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader, has not supported the move in the past, saying it would lead to chaos on the floor of the Senate with gangs of Senators forcing various votes. There are other Senate rules Schumer can use to cut off Tuberville’s effort, but it would fall into the Republicans’ messaging about Schumer being the problem.